Bonds Over Blood
by Hyperteenager24
Summary: Oliver awakes in the 21st century, coming face to face with friends, foes...and children his own age And yet the most used phrase is "What the heck is this?"
1. Escapee

Next part of the series! This is the one that I'm really looking forward to writing because I get to write about the children and the interactions they have with each other :)

Please read and review :)

…..

It was too much.

The pain….the cold…the light. It was all too much.

Oliver winced as he tried to focus his eyes. The light was too bright, causing him to squeeze his eyes shut again as he desperately tried to move. His limbs felt numb and when he was able to move them, the pain was agony.

Oliver yelped as it felt like fire was coursing through his entire body. A couple of minutes after this initial yell, he heard a door open and a young female voice pierced through the pain. "Oliver…Oliver are you alright?"

Oliver shook his head, "It hurts! It hurts!"

"Okay, okay. I'm going to give you something that will help alright? Now, you're going to feel a little prick and then everything is going to feel better."

Oliver tried to open his eyes again and found that it was easier this time around. The light seemed to have decreased in intensity this time around, meaning that he was able to focus on the young woman beside him. "W-what happened?" he asked weakly, wincing as he felt something entering his arm.

The young woman smiled gently at the child. "You were very, very cold so we had to warm you back up. Your body is just getting used to it okay? That's why you're hurting."

Oliver glanced around. The room he was in was plain, in fact the only things that seemed to be in the room was the bed that he was lying in, a bedside table and a few strange machines that beeped and whirred by the side of him. "W-where am I? Where's Peggy and Howard?"

There was a pause before Oliver got any answer, "They're just outside sweetie. But I can't let them in yet okay?"

Oliver frowned in confusion, "Why?"

"Well…you're still healing sweetie."

"But I feel a lot better now!"

"That's because I gave you some special medicine okay?"

This time, Oliver scowled in frustration. "Well, then can't I go outside? I promise I'll be really good!"

"No. I'm sorry sweetie…why don't you get some rest and maybe you can go out tomorrow, okay?"

Oliver sighed and closed his eyes. He waited for a few minutes, remaining completely still in order to try and fool the woman into thinking he had fallen asleep. The door opened again and Oliver heard two male voices enter the room.

"How is he?" asked one of them.

"Confused Sir. He was in quite a bit of pain but I was able to introduce a dose of painkillers into his system."

"It's understandable that he's pain Fury. The defrosting process was…uncomfortable to say the least. Howard's pod wasn't perfect in that regard so we had to do it by hand, using heaters. It wasn't pleasant, but it got the job done. The fact that he's been in the same position for a long time probably hasn't helped." This was the other male voice. He sounded kinder than the other one, but still just as serious.

"Why is he only waking up now Coulson? He's been out of the ice for almost a year after all! I distinctly remember it being a quicker process last time around."

"He's a lot younger…the stress must have been too much for him, so his brain put him in a coma in order to help him recover."

"There's something else agents…" began the woman, "…he wanted to know about Agent Carter and Howard Stark. He also wanted to leave…I'm afraid I didn't know what to say, so I told him, we'll see about tomorrow."

"That's fine Agent Sinese…" this was the second male, "…Sir, maybe we should think about letting…you know who know?"

"No Coulson…I don't want to get his hopes up. What if the kid's condition degrades and everything goes south. We didn't think he would actually wake up, especially not after a year. If there aren't any complications in the next few months then we'll see. But for now, he stays here."

"…I can't believe he's actually alive. Everything suggested that he had died!"

"I know…I suspect it was to keep him safe at first. Then Howard must have forgotten or something."

The voices got quieter and quieter until the door slammed shut. Oliver remained still for a few minutes more before opening his eyes and sitting up. The room was completely deserted which gave Oliver the opportunity to remove a needle from his arm and several things stuck to his chest. As soon as he removed the chest devices, a loud noise began to echo throughout the room causing Oliver to spring up from his bed. Ignoring the dull ache that had spread throughout his body, Oliver ran over to the door and just as it opened, Oliver shot under the person's legs and ran down the corridor.

"OLIVER! OLIVER, WAIT!"

He ignored the frantic shouting behind him as he darted away from several pairs of grasping hands, running and running until he finally burst through the front doors and into the streets. Immediately, his hands flew to his ears as the constant noise of traffic and sirens overwhelmed him. The bright lights of screens that covered the buildings made him wince and pain. However it was the sheer scale of the crowded city around him that caused him to flee, darting into an alleyway and continuing to run.

He wouldn't stop for anything.

…..

Fury sighed wearily to himself as he and Agent Coulson made their way up to the main living floor of the Stark Tower. It had been almost two hours since Oliver Rogers had fled the SHIELD recovery building and they were no closer to finding him.

So it was time to call in the big guns.

Upon walking out of the elevator, Coulson immediately heard the sounds of Edwin and Ian playing some sort of video game, whilst yelling at each in frustration. The pair was seated in front of the large television screen, playing Mario cart whilst the adults watched from the settee.

Fury cleared his throat to get everyone's attention, "Gentlemen…we have a slight situation."

Tony, who had been working on the blueprints for his next suit, scoffed. "There's always a situation…what is it now? Alien invasion? Vampires in New York?"

Fury scowled at the man before turning his attention to Steve, "On the day that you woke up, I told you some rather distressing news."

Steve nodded sadly in remembrance, as Fury continued. "I'm afraid that we may have been mistaken. When we were searching another one of Howard Stark's houses, we found…we found Oliver Rogers."

Clint glanced at the children, who were pretending not to be listening in and frowned, "I thought he was…you know!"

Coulson nodded, "We thought that too…but Oliver was alive when we found him! It appears as though he was cryogenically frozen in a basement room. We think it was originally to keep him safe and the news headline was to throw other people off. However, it also appears as though-"

"My Dad didn't want Oliver to come out of being a popsicle." Sighed Tony, as he glanced apologetically at a shell-shocked Steve.

Fury frowned, "It could just be that Howard forgot that Oliver was even down there?"

Tony's face clearly disagreed with this and he shook his head, "No…my old man knew. He just didn't care. You know…now that I think about it, I remember Jarvis trying to tell me something before he died. Old Jarvis mind you! Not the stunning example you see hanging about in that doorway!"

He pointed at his husband who was listening in on the conversation from the kitchen doorway. Steve shook his head in amazement, "So…when can I see him? Is he okay?"

Coulson and Fury glanced at each other before Fury sighed, "This is where our slight situation comes into play. After we defrosted him, Oliver went into a coma….and he was like that for a while."

Steve frowned, "What are we talking about, a few weeks? Months?"

"Try a year."

This clearly took Steve off guard as he shot up out of his seat, "A year!? When were you going to tell me?!"

Fury shrugged, "We weren't. There could have been complications and we didn't want to get your hopes up."

"You should have told me! I thought-I thought he was dead!"

Coulson stepped in front of Fury slightly before holding out his hands in an attempt to calm the super soldier down. "Yes. We should have…but right now we've got a bigger problem. Oliver obviously suspected something, and he managed to escape, running out into the street…we haven't been able to find him yet."

This got every adult's attention as they realised the significant danger that the, now six year old, was in. The streets were not a safe place to be.

Jarvis switched the television off, ignoring the protests of the children. "We need to find him. Have you tried calling Mr Parker and Mr Murdock? They might be able to help more due to their patrols?"

Fury nodded in agreement with the blonde man as the group decided to head out into the street, grabbing the two children as they went. "We've already called Parker, he's going to meet us at Murdock's. He's agreed to help with the search and I have no doubt that Murdock will be happy to as well."

….

It took a little under half an hour for the group to travel into Hell's kitchen and to Matt Murdock's apartment. Once they were there, they were let in by Murdock's partner, Foggy. "O, Peter said you would be here soon. Come in, come in! Matt's just getting ready…and by that I mean he's trying to persuade Joey and Seb not to join them."

The group entered the small apartment, with Ian and Edwin zooming ahead in order to see the other two boys. Peter and Matt were seated on the settee when they entered the small living room, with Peter holding a squirming Sebastian. "No means no Seb! Now cut it out!"

Fury glanced around, noticing that Ian and Edwin were now encouraging Seb with Joey trying to whack his own Dad on the shins. Chaos…absolute chaos. "EVERYBODY SIT DOWN!" He bellowed, watching in smug satisfaction as every child in the room practically fell to the ground in sudden obedience….the fact that Clint, Tony and Foggy also sat down was the highlight of his day though.

"Now…" he continued calmly, "Your parents and I, with the exception of Mister Nelson here, are going to go and look for Oliver Rogers. Whilst we are away, I expect you to be on your best behaviour understand!?"

Everyone, except Coulson, nodded frantically. Fury nodded in satisfaction as he gestured for the adults to follow him out of the door. Once they were gone, the children raced into Joseph's room and slammed the door shut, causing Foggy to wince in sympathy for their neighbours.

…..

"I can't believe this…" exclaimed Sebastian excitedly, "…we're going to meet Captain America's kid!"

"Do you reckon he has super strength like in the comics?" asked Ian, pulling one of the comics out of Sebastian's travel bag and showing it to Joey.

Edwin sighed at this, "He can't see it Ian, remember? Just like when I do this…" he reached over and fiddled with a dial in Ian's right ear, "…you can't hear us out of that ear!"

Ian flung the comic at him, ignoring Seb's protests as he reached up to turn the hearing aid back on. "Quit it Ed! You do that again and I'm gonna hit you!"

"Try it Mama's boy!"

"You're just jealous that I beat you at Mario cart! Like I always do! Besides, you're just as bad as me, you're always sucking up to Jarvis!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Freak!"

"Android!"

"Guys…"

The pair continued throwing insults at each other.

"Guys, come on!"

Still nothing.

"GUYS!" yelled Joey, ignoring as Sebastian jumped slightly beside him. "There's someone out there!"


	2. Meeting the Crew

Please read and review :)

….

Oliver felt like he'd been running for miles. His chest burned and there was the faint taste of copper in his mouth. Every alleyway looked the same, blending into one as Oliver tripped and stumbled over the cobbled streets, dodging cardboard boxes left, right and centre. Eventually he hit a dead end, placing his back to the brick wall as he sunk down to the ground, head in his hands as he tried to even out his breathing.

…

"GUYS!" yelled Joey, ignoring Sebastian jumping slightly beside him. "There's someone out there!"

Edwin and Ian stopped arguing to stare at Joey, who was staring in the general direction of his bedroom window. Ian sprang up and ran to the window, lifting it open and climbing out onto the fire escape. Ignoring the sounds of the others joining him, Ian focused all of his attention onto the alleyway below them. By the end of the alleyway, he could see a huddled figure shivering in the cold.

"Hey!" he called out, grinning as the figure lifted his head to stare at him, "hey, are you alright!?"

The figure, who Ian now knew to be a boy about their age, shook his head. "I-I don't know where I am…"

Beside him, Ian felt Sebastian attach himself to the wall and scale down it in order to get closer to the child. "Hey dude…" began Sebastian as he reached out his hand. The boy took a step back causing Sebastian to hold his hands up in surrender…whilst still being attached to the wall. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Dude, I'm friendly!"

The boy didn't seem convinced so Edwin felt the need to chime in, "Seriously dude, he only looks scary! His Dad's way worse, trust us!"

Ian rolled his eyes and elbowed his friend in the chest, "You are so not helping!"

Sebastian grinned at the boy, who was now watching Ian and Edwin in confusion. "They're always doing that…they have fun fighting with each other. I think they'd be bored if they didn't."

The child smiled at this, so Sebastian took the chance to throw a friendly arm over his shoulders. "They're alright when you get to know them…why don't you come in? We were going to play Captain America before those two started fighting. You wanna play?"

"Y-you play Captain America?"

"Yeah, haven't you ever played? It's one of our favourites, although Ed never lets anyone else be Cap…and Ian doesn't let anyone else be Bucky."

The boy looked very confused and that's when Ian noticed something. "Hey…what's your name?"

"O-Oliver…Oliver Rogers"

The group glanced at each other and Sebastian fired a web line up to the fire escape, grabbed Oliver and used the line to hoist him and Oliver up to Joey's room. Once there, Oliver was immediately surrounded and pestered with question after question by the small group…well everyone except Joey who could hear Oliver's heartrate increase and increase.

"Guys come on!" he exclaimed, using his stick to nudge one of his friends out of the way, "You guys crowding him isn't gonna help! And keep it down…if Dad comes up, he's gonna freak!"

The noise level quickly died down as Joey steered Oliver over to where his bed was, frowning at the thinness of the boys' t-shirt. "Do you want another one?"

Joey didn't need to see Oliver's face to know he was confused. "Another what?"

"Another t-shirt…this one feels way too thin, it's freezing out there! O yeah, Ian! Can you please close the window…and tell Sebastian to stop whatever it is that he's doing!"

Joey heard Oliver chuckle at Sebastian's whine of "How does he do that? He's blind!" He also heard one of his drawers open, presumingly Edwin grabbing one of Joey's shirts. His suspicion was confirmed when he heard Ed walk over. "Here you go. It's not very interesting, but then again Joey's never are. Mine however, are awesome, look at this!"

Joey rolled his eyes at Edwin's statement and grinned when Oliver didn't seem that impressed. "What is...AC/DC?"

"O man, we have some serious catching up to do! You need to listen to these guys, they're awesome!"

"So…it's music?"

"A band…O we are going to have so much fun! Hey, that looks cool!" Joey assumed that Edwin was referring to how Oliver looked in his t-shirt. "Hey Joey, do you think that your jeans will fit him?"

Joey shrugged, glancing over as he heard Ian and Sebastian rummaging through his toy box. "They should…try some on Oli."

"Guys…" interrupted Ian, "…shouldn't we tell Foggy that Oliver's here now?"

"Nah…" answered Edwin, "…The rest of the group will be back soon. Maybe they'll have Natasha with them?"

Ian laughed, "She's not in New York! Sorry Edwin!"

"Who's Natasha?" asked Oliver.

Joey heard Ian laugh again, "Natasha's a friend of my Dad's. She awesome! And she totally kicks ass...Edwin has a crush on her!"

Edwin tried to deny it, but gave up when Ian and Seb began to tease him. "She's really pretty though! My Papa says she's smoking hot…not when Dad can hear him though."

"And not where Natasha can hear him either..." chuckled Ian, "…she doesn't mind being pretty, but when people just see her as hot she gets really annoyed…she kicks ass as well, she's not just hot!"

Oliver frowned again, "Hot?"

Edwin handed him a pair of jeans and shrugged, "Papa says it means really, really pretty…Ian's Dad says we shouldn't call people that until we're older. Those jeans should fit by the way."

As Oliver was changing, Joey and Edwin went over to the toy box in order to try and find all of the relevant toys ready for their game. Edwin pulled out the miniature shield and the replica helmet, holding them up in triumph, before spinning around in order to hand them over to Oliver. "See, Captain America is really popular! We all have stuff like this….but Ian has the most."

Ian nodded in agreement, "Yeah, my Dad is a big fan. I have like every action figure and a full scale shield!"

Oliver glanced at the shield in his arms and grinned, "You know…I used to steal Papa's all the time."

"Really? But wasn't it heavy?"

"Yeah I suppose so but-"

"But he has super strength, remember!?" exclaimed Sebastian excitedly, "Like in issue 54 when he knocked out that Hydra guard!"

Oliver frowned, "When who knocked out the guard?"

"You!"

Oliver laughed and shook his head, "I never did that! If Hydra ever got into the camp, then Momma would take me into our tent, or I would stay with Howard." Oliver frowned at the memory, "He never was good at keeping an eye on me…"

Edwin nodded, "Yeah, my Dad always says that…" Noticing Oli's confused face, Edwin tried to explain, "I'm Edwin Stark…Howard's my Granddad, or was. He died a long time ago."

Oliver frowned, "I knew an Edwin. He was-wait…Granddad? H-how long has it been. Howard said I was only going to be in the pod for a while!" Glancing around frantically, Oliver's face grew pale as the rest of the group avoided all eye contact and didn't say anything. "How long have I been in that pod?"

Joey sighed, "Well, from what our parents were saying…about seventy years."

Oliver stepped back in disbelief, "N-no…that can't be right. What about Peggy and the rest of the Howling Commandos?"

Edwin sighed, "Peggy's not well…I don't really know about the rest of the commandos."

Oliver nodded as he glanced outside, "T-there were so many bright lights…noise. I just ran!"

The other four nodded in understanding as Oliver continued to stare out of the window. Edwin, who clearly found the silence uncomfortable, pointed at the shield in Oliver's hands. "You can be Captain America if you want?"

Oliver paused for a moment, before smiling and handing the shield back to Edwin. "I don't mind if you want to be him…as long as we can take it in turns?"

Edwin beamed, practically snatching the shield off of Oli. "Oh, you and me are going to be good friends!"

Oliver beamed back as he and Ian stood next to Edwin, who was putting the toy helmet on, whilst Seb crawled up the walls and used his hand to imitate a gun. "Ah, Captain America…." He chuckled in a horrible German accident, "…ve meet again!"

"Stand down Schmidt!" ordered Edwin, "You won't get away with this!"

"O yes I vill! You von't be able to get past my best soldier!" At this Joey brandished his stick like a sword and blindly struck out in the direction of Edwin, who blocked it with the shield.

"Commandos! Attack!"

…

Steve sighed wearily as the group made their way back to Murdock's. They had spilt up and searched everywhere within a 30 mile radius, but there was nothing. Those who had seen a small boy, couldn't remember where he'd gone or in what direction. Noticing this, Tony glanced at his husband. "Jarvis, have you been able to find him on the security cameras?"

The brilliant thing about Jarvis was, that because of his coding in his android body, Jarvis was still able to do everything that he used to when he was still just an AI. That included hacking into security cameras. Jarvis's eyes flashed bright yellow, and he shook his head. "No…the last sighting of him was just outside the SHIELD facility. He ran into an alleyway, and he's been able to avoid all cameras since then."

"How did he look? I mean, was he hurt?!" asked Steve frantically.

Jarvis glanced at him, "Scared, not hurt but scared..." the android then turned his attention to Fury, "…But then that's to be expected when you lock a child in a room and lie to him."

Fury rolled his eye at the statement, "We were trying to protect him."

Peter then chimed in on the conversation, "Didn't Captain Rog-I mean Steve, cause chaos when he got free?"

Coulson winced and nodded, "Yes. I suppose we thought that Oliver wouldn't react as strongly as he did."

They made their way up the stairs to the flat as Clint got off the phone with Natasha. "Well Nat's in Dc at the moment, finishing up on a case, but she said she'll be here in the next 24 hours in order to help look. I have a list of contacts in the city I can try?"

They reached the front door, but before anyone could reply to Clint, Matt held up a hand. "There's another heartbeat in the flat…"

He quickly banged on the door only to sigh in relief when Foggy answered it. "Matt? Matt, what is it?"

Glancing at Joey's room, Fury could just about hear the children playing. "Have they left that room at any time?" he asked Foggy, who shook his head.

"No, they've been in there the whole time."

"Are you sure, maybe they snuck past when you were watching TV?"

"No way! They would have had to walk in front of me. Years of Matt trying to sneak out has taught me to put the sofa against the wall. No way behind it."

Frowning in confusion, Matt walked over to his son's bedroom door. "There is definitely someone else in there." He flung the door open, wincing slightly as the volume of the children paying increased significantly. It soon died down when the children finally noticed him.

The rest of the adults stood behind him in shock as Ian gently pushed a young, blonde boy forwards. The boy's eyes were fixed firmly to the floor, so when Steve stepped forwards in relief, he didn't even flinch.

"Oli?"

Oliver's head shot up in surprise and tears began to stream down his face when he realised who it was. "Daddy?"

Steve knelt down and held out his arms as Oliver ran into them, lifting his son into the air and holding him close as Oliver sobbed into his neck. "Sshh, sshh, sshh…" whispered Steve, rocking backwards and forwards and patting his son on the back, "…it's okay sweetie. Everything's gonna be okay. We're together now…I'm not leaving you again."


	3. Confrontation

I am really enjoying writing this! I have so much planned for these characters!

Gif sets relating to this particular AU can be found on my Tumblr page, under the tag of Avengers AU ( tagged/Avengers-AU ) Check them out if you want to see who the face claim for these characters are :)

Please read and review :)

….

"And here we are, in my humble abode!" announced Tony, spreading his arms out wide as he led Oliver and the rest of the group onto the main living floor. "Everybody has their own room, bathroom and living area, but generally people tend to use this one…family time you know."

Steve gently patted his son on the head as Oliver grew more and more confused. "Don't worry kiddo, just think of it as a house within a house!"

Sebastian and Ian pushed past the pair and ran over to the settees. Edwin and Joey, however, took the time to gently take Oliver by the arms, "Yeah, and me and Ian live here as well, so you can play with us!"

Oliver glanced at Sebastian and then at Joey, "I know Joey doesn't, but what about you Seb?"

Seb laughed as he began to bounce on the settee, ignoring Jarvis's protests, "We have a floor, but we don't stay here a lot. Tony doesn't like my Papa!"

Tony began to protest, "It's not that I don't like him, it's just that I think he's…"

"Psychotic?" interrupted Peter, his arms folded in disapproval, "Because, honestly, Wade's not that bad!"

Clint nodded in agreement, "Yeah, he just takes a bit of getting used to…okay a lot of getting used to."

Tony rolled his eyes, "Okay, of course you don't think he's psychotic Peter, he turns into a walking pile of goo when he sees you. Utter adoration, it's sickening!"

Upon realising what he had just said, Tony winced as he twisted around to see his husband, who raised an eyebrow in mock curiosity, "And just why is it so sickening? Hmmmmmm? There's nothing wrong with Mr Wilson being in love with Mr Parker…unless of course, you think it is wrong?"

Tony shook his head frantically, "No, no, no, no! Of course not sweetie. I just thought it was strange that someone like Wade would-"

"What do you mean, someone like Wade?!" interrupted Peter.

Tony glanced backwards and forwards between Jarvis and Peter, spluttering incoherently until he threw his hands up in the air. "I give up!"

Oliver giggled as Tony shuffled off to the main kitchen, muttering to himself about being ganged up on. However, before Oliver could say anything, a rather nervous looking, bespectacled man entered the room from another doorway.

"Hey Bruce!" greeted Ian, beaming as Bruce smiled gently at him before turning his attention to Oliver. Steve pushed his son forwards, "Oliver. This is Doctor Bruce Banner, one of Tony's friends. Bruce, this is my son, Oliver."

Oliver held out his hand for Bruce to shake, "It's a pleasure to meet you Doctor Banner!"

Bruce smiled and shook the offered hand, "It's very nice to meet you too Oliver. I see you've already met the rest of the group?"

Oliver nodded, grinning as Ian sped over and flung an arm around his shoulder. "Yeah, they helped me when I was lost a couple of days ago!"

Ian nodded eagerly, "Dad says we were heroes…" he frowned, glancing at his parents, "…but they still won't gimme a costume!"

Bruce chuckled at the disappointed look on the boy's face, "I'm sure they will when you're older."

Ian shrugged, but soon got over his disappointment, "He hasn't met everyone yet, but I really want to meet Natasha!"

Bruce shook his head, "You know she's working Ian."

"Yeah I know…are you going to stay here? You were away ages last time!"

Bruce winced slightly, "I…ran into a bit of trouble last time. But hopefully, I'll be here for a while now that Tony and Director Fury have had a quiet word with the army."

Ian bounced up and down excitedly, "Awesome!"

Edwin, with Joey clutched tightly to his arm, then ran over. "Come on Oli, you've got to come and see Ian's toys!"

Oliver moved as if to follow them, but was held back by a gentle hand gripping the back of his shirt. "Ah, ah, ah!" chuckled Steve, "First, don't you think you'd better unpack? You've got three bags of clothing and two more full of toys! We'll get them into your room and then you can play with the others, okay?"

Oliver pouted for a bit before eventually nodding, shrugging at his new friends as if to say 'sorry.' He and Steve headed back towards the elevator,

"Hey Steve! Wait!" Both Steve and Oli turned around when they heard Tony, who was holding up a flask of strange green liquid, "You'll need this!"

Oliver frowned at the disgusting-looking liquid, "What is it?"

"It's a drink that will give you all the nutrients you need. Trust me on this kid, once everything kicks in and you realise you're starving, then you'll start eating like it's gone out of style. But, your body isn't going to be used to the rich food and it'll come straight back up. We'll start you on a plain diet with a glass of this stuff every day, slowly introducing you to richer and richer foods until you get used to it."

Oliver gently took the flask out of Tony's hands, "How do you know…that this will work I mean?"

Tony glanced at Steve and grinned, "Well, let's just say that when your Dad was first out of the ice, he puked like there was no tomorrow! This stuff helped him, and it'll help you, okay?"

Oliver nodded as Steve gently nudged Tony in the arm, a mock frown on his face as he pretended to be offended at Tony telling Oliver that particular story. The pair then entered the elevator and shot up to Steve's floor…well their floor now.

In contrast to the atmosphere downstairs, when they were unpacking Oliver's things, Oliver remained silent. Steve sighed as his son avoided eye contact, opting instead to stare at the back of his wardrobe whilst hanging up some of his shirts. "Okay, I think it's time we had a little talk. What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

The word seemed almost forced out. Steve rolled his eyes as he strode over to his son and gently encouraged him to turn around. Oliver's eyes were firmly focused on the floor but Steve continued undeterred. "Ever since we found you in Matt's apartment, you've been…closed off. You won't look at me!"

"I was downstairs!"

"Yeah, when we were surrounded by other people! Whenever we're alone, you won't look at me!"

Silence.

"Oli! I can't help you if you don't talk to me!"

Oliver continued to stare at the ground, muttering sullenly to himself. Steve rolled his eyes. "Let me rephrase…if you talk to me properly and clearly!"

Oliver scowled before raising his head to look his Dad in the eye, "You left me…"

"W-what?"

"You left me!" Oliver yelled pushing his Dad, causing him to take a step back. "Mom died and then you left me! You didn't care about me! You cared more about your stupid war than me!"

Steve took another step back, this time in shock as Oliver continued to scream at him. "I HATE YOU! You left me alone! Howard froze me because they didn't know what to do with me! All I wanted was a family, you didn't have to stay in that plane!"

There was silence for a few moments before Steve nodded, "You're right…I should have thought about what me crashing the plane would have done to you. I was too caught up in getting revenge for…for Bucky that I focused more on being a Captain than on being a Father."

He gently pulled his son into a hug, ignoring the way that Oliver tensed up in his arms. "I-I'm so, so sorry…" whispered Steve soothingly as he patted his son on the back, wincing as Oliver buried his head into his Dad's shoulder and sobbed, "…So, so sorry."

….

Edwin, Ian, Seb and Joey stood outside the door that led directly into Steve and Oliver's personal living area. Joey frowned, "Maybe we should wait…"

"Nah…" Edwin moved to knock on the door, "…it's been hours! It can't take that long to unpack some toys!"

Ian grinned, "It was more than a few toys. You shoved everything into his arms!"

"But he didn't buy everything did he?!"

"…No, but I don't think Oliver likes video games?"

"More like he doesn't know how they work…he'll change his mind"

Edwin banged on the door and then pressed his ear close to the door. After a few minutes, Edwin shook his head, "I don't hear anything…" he turned to face Joey, "…Did you hear them leave?"

Joey shook his head, "The elevator didn't come down…they might have gone down the stairs but I don't think so." He moved closer to the door, listening for a few moments before nodding. "I can hear someone talking…maybe we should wait, we can always play tomorrow!"

Edwin whined theatrically, "But you two won't be here tomorrow! I want us all to play together!"

Seb nudged him in the arm and grinned, "You know we can always come over tomorrow…Joey's right, we should wait."

Edwin rolled his eyes and moved to walk away, however before the group reached the elevator, the door opened and Oliver peaked out. "H-hey guys."

The group frowned in concern when they saw how red Oliver's eyes were. Ian tried to smile reassuringly, "Hey Oli…you okay back there."

Oliver frowned in confusion before his eyes widened in realisation and he grinned sheepishly, "O…I was just-I was upset at my Dad. We talked and now we're okay…do you guys mind if we play tomorrow?"

Feeling the gazes of the three other boys behind him, Edwin sighed and nodded. "Yeah okay…Seb and Joey have to go home now, but me and Ian are going to be in Ian's room if you want to play later?"

Oliver nodded as the group turned to leave. Once they entered the elevator, Oliver shut the door behind him and ran back into his room where his Dad was just finishing up on putting all his toys away. Steve grinned at him, "Everything okay?"

Oliver nodded eagerly, "It is now!"

"Do you have any questions?"

Oliver paused for a moment, "What the heck is that thing?"

"Language…and I don't know yet."


	4. Talbot

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….

"Did you write the book of love, and do you have faith in God above? If the Bible tells you so? Now do you believe in rock and roll, can music save your mortal soul? And can you teach me how to dance real slow?"

Oliver, Edwin, Joey and Seb grinned as Ian air guitared up the corridor, singing at the top of his lungs.

"Well, I know that you're in love with him, 'cause I saw you dancin' in the gym. You both kicked off your shoes. Man, I dig those rhythm and blues. I was a lonely teenage broncin' buck, with a pink carnation and a pickup truck. But I knew I was out of luck, the day the music died."

"Should we be wandering this far away from your Dad's office Ian?"

Ian twisted around to roll his eyes at Oliver, "You worry too much…I practically grew up in these halls, I know where I'm going!"

Joey, who was holding on to Oliver's arm, shook his head and sighed. "I think Oliver means, shouldn't we listen to Coulson and not go too close to the entrance hallways….like we are."

Sebastian jumped down from the ceiling, directly in front of Joey and threw his hands up into the air, "How do you know that?! You're blind!"

Joey laughed and gently tapped his friend on the head with his stick, "My eyes don't work, but my ears work just fine. I can hear some cars pulling into the entrance garage."

Upon turning the next corner, the small group found that Joey was right. The main entrance was full of armed guards and army jeeps bustling around, moving large crates over to SHEILD transport vehicles. Ian quickly pushed his friends back around the corner, trying to keep them hidden as they peeked around the corner to see what was happening.

Edwin watched as a tall man in a smart military uniform, left the main jeep and began to order the other soldiers around. Edwin winced, "It's Ross…"

Oliver glanced at him in confusion, "Ross? Who's Ross?"

Seb shook his head in amazement, "You've been here a year and you still haven't met General Ross? Lucky!"

Ian nodded in agreement, "Yeah General Ross is really nasty. He's the one who's trying to get Bruce…he's why Bruce is always having to run away!"

"So what's he doing here?" asked Joey, wincing as General Ross's voice increased in volume as he got more and more annoyed.

Edwin shrugged, "Dunno…but maybe we should go get your Dad Ian? He'll know what to do!"

The others nodded in agreement and quickly sped away from the main entrance, heading towards Coulson's office as fast as they could. The only problem was, that when they arrived at the office, Coulson was nowhere to be found. Ian groaned in despair, "Why is he never there when I need him?!"

Edwin glanced back out into the corridor and sighed, "He must be meeting with the General or something?"

Ian nodded in agreement and the group quickly made their way back into the corridor. Upon spinning the corner closest to the main entrance, Joey span around in order to talk to the rest of his friends, meaning that he let go of Oliver's arm. "Is this such a good idea? I mean, what if Ross sees us?"

Before anyone could answer him, Joey backed into an unknown figure, causing him to spin round in shock. Because of the suddenness of the movement, Joey overbalanced and fell backwards into Seb's arms. As he was straightening himself, he flinched as he heard a deep, commanding voice.

"Watch where you're-O, it's you boys"

Edwin frowned at the man, "Talbot…don't you have sucking up to do?"

Talbot chuckled before addressing Joey once again, "So how are your parents…still making the small bucks by being useless lawyers?"

"My Dads are the only ones keeping you guys away from Bruce!" yelled Joey.

"Well, them and my Papa's money…" smirked Edwin.

This turned Talbot's attention to Edwin, "Ah, the mini billionaire! It's a shame your Dad retracted his weapons contract. You know he's the reason we're here, he's the reason why we have to turn to SHIELD for help."

Seb grinned, "So you admit that you need help?"

Talbot glared at the child for a second before smirking, "I'm not the one who needs help, speaking of which, how's that Father of yours? Still insane?"

Before Sebastian could say anything in retaliation, Ian cut in. "You would know all about that wouldn't you!?"

Once again Talbot ignored the insult in order to address another child…this time, it was Oliver. "Aah, the super soldier's son…" began Talbot, practically purring as Oliver fidgeted in discomfort, "…you know, the army has been very interested in meeting you two for quite some time. However, we've run into several walls regarding that."

Ian grinned, "There, there. Never mind."

Talbot glared at the boy, his hand moving towards his holstered gun. However, a stern voice from behind him soon stopped him. "I really wouldn't do that if I were you…"

Grimacing, Talbot spun around and rolled his eyes at the SHIELD agent who had just appeared from around the corner. "Agent Coulson. Always a pleasure to see you…although, I do have some criticisms about your parenting methods."

Coulson smirked at the man, his hands silently gesturing for the children to hide behind him. "Ian was always taught to stand up for himself…if that means treating you with the amount of respect that you deserve, then so be it!"

Talbot growled in anger, his hand was again reaching for his gun. "Ah! Ah! Ah!" Talbot groaned as he glanced to the side to see another agent aiming a gun at him.

"Agent Barton…" growled Talbot, "…you know that aiming a gun at me could be considered a criminal offense?"

Clint grinned, "I'll just add it to my ever-growing list."

Glaring at the now giggling children, Talbot raised his hands in the air in surrender, "So…what next? You shoot me and hide the body?"

Coulson smirked, "No…but if you dare threaten the children again! Well, let's just say that you'll just be giving my husband an excuse to shoot you."

Clint grinned at the sideways glance Talbot gave him, "Just say the word honey."

Rolling his eyes, Talbot backed away down the other end of the corridor. "Alright, alright…I get the picture. But know this Coulson…you can't protect them forever. Sooner or later, they're going to get hurt trying to follow in their parents footsteps!"

With those passing words, Talbot disappeared around the corner. Sighing Coulson folded his arms and twisted around to stare at the small group of children, who were beginning to shuffle their feet nervously. "What are you boys doing? Getting on Talbot's bad side is not something you want to be doing!"

The boys glanced at each other before Ian stepped forward, "It wasn't our fault! Talbot bumped into Joey! Almost knocked him over as well!"

Coulson ran a cursory glance over Joey in order to check that he was okay. Seemingly satisfied that he was, he looked at his son again. "Let's say I buy that…then why is it when I left my office earlier, you and the rest of you were nowhere to be seen. In fact you were nowhere near my office, despite me telling you not to go too far!"

Ian winced as the rest of the group glared at him. He turned pleading eyes to his Papa, only for Clint to shake his head in sympathy. "I…might have wandered off" answered Ian, shuffling his feet guiltily.

"And where did you go?"

"…Near the main entrance."

This time it was Clint who rolled his eyes. "Great! You're lucky General Ross didn't see you! He would have had no qualms about using you lot as leverage to get to Bruce, what were you thinking!?"

The boys all shook their heads, none of them answering for fear of making the adults even more annoyed. Coulson sighed wearily, "Okay. Clint's going to take you lot to Joey's apartment, where Mr Nelson will keep an eye on you. Now I expect you to stay there until you are picked up by your parents or a friend of the family, okay?!"

The boys nodded in agreement, their eyes fixed firmly on the ground. Clint grinned, "Okay then…stand to attention and march!"


	5. Ross Strikes

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…

"Alright, everyone's whose coming, can you please grab your bags and get in the car!" sighed Bruce, his eyes turned to the sky as if praying for patience.

All morning, Edwin and Ian had been creating a mess, refusing to get changed out of their pyjamas and throwing their breakfast around. Oliver hadn't been much better, but at least he knew when to quit being a pain. Despite only being in the modern century for a little over a year, Oliver had shown a lot of progress regarding technology and language…which also meant that he was now easily distracted by video games at the least opportune time.

"Bruce?" The man in question twisted his head to stare at Oliver, "Are we going to pick up Joey and Seb?"

Bruce quickly checked his phone before nodding, "It seems so…I'll go grab the seven seater. You go grab Edwin and Ian, okay?"

Oliver nodded in agreement, before rushing off back into the living room where Bruce could faintly hear the sounds of Edwin and Ian bickering. Rolling his eyes, Bruce headed into the elevator, holding the door as the three children scampered into the lift. Pressing the button for the garage, Bruce found himself scanning the children in order to see whether or not they had everything.

Ian, throwing his purple sling bag with a black target on it over his shoulder, slumped against the wall. "Why are you taking us Bruce?"

Frowning at the disappointed tone in Ian's voice, Bruce began to clean his glasses. "Your parents are too busy dealing with the recent…partnership they have with the army."

Edwin nodded, his special-made Iron Man backpack bouncing against his back his he jumped up and down excitedly. "O yeah, I heard Ross was putting up a fuss!"

Bruce shrugged, "I wouldn't know about that…" the elevator stopped in the garage, "…I try to stay away from General Ross as much as possible."

The group headed towards a large black SUV which contained seven seats. Shuffling into the driver's seat, Bruce chose to ignore Edwin and Ian squabbling over who would sit in the front passenger seat. "Enough!" he ordered, resisting the urge to smile as both boys stood to attention, "Edwin can go in the front on the way to school and Ian on the way back, okay?"

Both boys nodded sheepishly with Ian climbing into the middle seats with Oliver and Edwin climbing into the front. The peace and quiet lasted for a surprising amount of time, with Sebastian and Joey climbing into the back seats. It was only then, that the noise level began to steadily increase as the boys began to chatter excitedly, talking about the latest Superman comics or the new Batman action figure that had come out.

The car sped down the streets of New York, heading towards the private school that the kids had been sent to. Bruce glanced around suspiciously at the deserted roads. "It's almost nine o'clock…where is everyone?"

The children stared out of their respective windows, with Joey listening out for any sounds of traffic and life. Suddenly, his head faced the right side of the vehicle as he yelled out a warning, "BRUCE LOOK OUT!"

Bruce glanced in the rear-view mirror in confusion, but before he could say anything, a large van slammed into the driver's side and spun the SUV around. The magnitude of the hit, also caused the SUV to roll over, sending glass flying everywhere. Eventually the SUV ran out of momentum, wobbling for a few seconds before it landed right side up.

Edwin winced in pain a dull pain began to spread over his head. Twisting around, he quickly checked to see if his friends were alright. "You guys okay?"

Sebastian yelled out from the back seat, "Joey's out cold…and I can't move my shoulder!" Edwin watched as Seb gingerly stood up on the seats. His shoulder was at an odd angle and tears were streaming down Seb's face as the pain seemed to kick in.

In the middle seats, Ian was gently shaking Oliver in an attempt to wake him up, whilst trying to stop his own nosebleed. "Oli's out as well!" cried Ian, "He's bleeding pretty bad from his head!"

Edwin rummaged in his pocket for his tissues and handed it to Ian, "Remember when Whiplash attacked a few years ago and I hurt my head? Your Dad said we needed to keep a tissue pressed to it!"

Ian nodded as he grabbed the tissues and pressed them to Oliver's head wound. The sharp pain caused Oliver to stir weakly, his eyes opening slowly as he tried to focus his vision. "I-Ian?" murmured the boy.

Ian nodded eagerly, as he let go of his own nose to bring Oliver's own hand to his head wound. "Yeah, you need to keep this pressed on it okay?"

Oliver nodded weakly as Ian stood up next to him in order to check on Joey. "I have some spare tissues Seb, can you use your other hand to put pressure on Joey's cut?"

Sebastian nodded, but before he could do anything, Joey weakly began to stir. His hands began to rise up to his face in confusion as he gently removed his cracked glasses. "W-what happened?"

"Someone crashed into us!" muttered Ian, pinching his nose shut again.

Joey opened his mouth, but was quickly interrupted. "Ummmm, guys?" called out Ed in a panicked voice, "Bruce is going green!"

Bruce, who was covered in cuts from the sudden impact, was hunched over. His shirt was beginning to rip and his skin was turning a slight shade of green as Bruce panted and heaved, trying to remain calm.

Just as the boys were distracted with Bruce and trying to calm him down, the SUV was quickly surrounded by armed soldiers, who were all aiming their guns at the vehicle. "Come out with your hands in the air!" ordered a commanding voice, which had clearly been amplified with a megaphone.

"Do…you think they know we're in here?" asked Joey worriedly, his hands still playing with his cracked glasses.

Bruce was still breathing heavily, his skin now almost completely green. As Ed and Ian were still trying to calm him down, Oliver glanced out the window and winced at the number of armed soldiers. "I hope not…" he pulled an emergency phone from his bag, given to him by his Dad for if any enemies attacked his school. He desperately speed dialled his Dad, only for a shrill beeping noise to notify him of a lack of signal. "I can't get a hold of anyone!" he growled, throwing the phone back into the bag.

"Come out with your hands up, all of you! This is your last warning!" called out the voice again.

"It's Ross…" whispered Joey, "…I recognise his voice, it's Ross!"

Seb glanced at Bruce, "So…he wants Bruce? Why would he just attack on the streets!?"

"Because he hasn't been able to get him by asking SHIELD!" growled Edwin, moving into the middle seats as Bruce's muscles increased in size and the man growled in anger. "Joey's parents have been stopping him from just taking Bruce! And because he lives with us, Ross can't just come in and grab him!"

The front of the SUV began to creak as Bruce got too big to hunch over comfortably. Scrabbling with the door handle, Bruce managed to open the side door and fall out the car. It took literally seconds later for the Hulk to make a full appearance.

"We gotta help him!" yelled Seb, as he one-handily clambered into the middle seats and out of the doors. The rest of the children quickly followed after, despite their numerous injuries. Joey's stick was split in two during the crash, so he ended up clutching onto Ian's arm. The Hulk glanced in around in confusion, his eyes pained as he stared at the small group of children who were trying to form a shield around him.

Ian gently patted the man on the arm, "Hulk, we need to get out of here okay? Ignore the mean soldiers, and let's just get out of here!"

The rest of the children nodded in agreement. The Hulk growled menacingly at the incoming soldiers, lifting the children onto his shoulders. With Joey and Oliver gripping tightly onto the Hulk's hair, Ian holding onto Joey and Ed onto Oli with Seb using his special grip to hold onto the Hulk's shoulders, the Hulk bent his knees in preparation to jump over the army and towards safety.

However, before he could go anywhere, a bright blue light stretched over the group and the army vehicles, creating a blue bubble. Edwin winced as he recognised the blue bubble for what it truly was, "Guys…I don't think we're going anywhere. That's an energy shield!"

The Hulk growled again as the boys all glanced up, "So…" began Ian, "…is that to keep us in, or our parents out?"

Oliver tried his phone again, only to scowl in frustration when no signal could be detected again. "You know…the future kinda sucks sometimes!"

Gently patting the Hulk in an attempt to calm him down, Ian noticed General Ross striding past the armed soldiers, straight towards the small group. "Stand down Banner…and maybe you and the children will get out of this relativity unharmed."

The Hulk took a step back as the children huddled closer to him. "Me not Banner!" he growled.

Ross smirked, "No…you're the stronger man. Or should I say creature?" He gestured for the armed soldiers to move in, ignoring how the Hulk growled in warning. "You can't escape, so why don't you make this easier for us and put the children down so we can talk this out?"

The soldiers all began to aim their guns at the Hulk's shoulders. In any other circumstance, the Hulk would have attacked…but it even Murdock would have been able to see the fear in those children's faces. The Hulk gently removed the children from his shoulders and placed them behind him. Ross smirked again, "Wise decision monster…." He glanced at the soldiers and gestured again, "…contain him."

The soldiers moved forwards, their guns still aimed at the Hulk in case he tried to attack…not that they would have done much good. The Hulk glanced behind him to make sure that the children were still there. Ian winced at the look in his eyes. The pain…begging for forgiveness for what he was about to do.

That did it.

Before the soldiers could come any closer, Ian darted in front of the Hulk and held out his arms in a vague attempt to protect the man. "If you wanna take him, you'll have to take me too!"

Ross rolled his eyes, "Ignore him men, just go past him!"

The soldiers tried to move forwards again, but Joey, Oliver, Seb and Edwin moved in front of the Hulk as well. Oliver pointed at the General, "What you are doing is wrong and you know it!"

"Oh? You don't understand what is happening boy! This creature is the property of the United States army, but thanks to Stark and his legal team, we haven't even got close…until a few weeks ago. When we struck that deal with SHIELD, we managed to keep an eye on the man…carefully placed bug in Stark's cars, brought us this far. And this is where it ends!"

Ross smiled in triumph as the children seemed unsure of what do to next, however, this smile soon turned into a frown when he caught Stark's kid smirking out of the corner of his eye. "And just what is so funny?"

Edwin beamed as he brought out his own phone from behind his back, the screen showing that a call was in progress. "It's the new Stark phone. Papa says it works off its own signal…at least for a small amount of time. I don't know how you stopped the signal…but it doesn't matter. I have a pair of lawyers on this phone and they're recording everything you just said."

Edwin smirked at the shocked look on the General's face, "And they're not happy…when they tell our parents what you're doing here, then you're in big trouble."

He grinned, "They're coming for you."


	6. Court Part 1

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Please read and review :)

….

Edwin smirked at the shocked look on the General's face, "And they're not happy…when they tell our parents what you're doing here, then you're in big trouble."

He grinned, "They're coming for you."

This time, it was General Ross's turn to smile as he pointed up to the sky at the blue energy shield. "They are more than welcome to try. Anyone who tries to get through that shield is in for a shock…literally."

Edwin shrugged, still holding up the phone. "My Papa's the smartest man ever. I'm sure he'll find a way in."

Joey nodded in agreement, "And you can bet that my Dad's aren't gonna be happy with this!"

"Your parents shouldn't have tried to keep me from what is rightfully mine!"

The children crowded closer to the Hulk, all glaring at the General and his soldiers as they moved closer. The General sighed, "Look….I don't want to hurt you anymore than I would want to hurt my own daughter. But if you keep getting in my way, then I may be forced to take drastic measures, understood?"

Silence.

The man sighed again, gesturing to the soldiers. "Very well…grab them." He ordered. With guns still aimed at the children as they were grabbed, the Hulk was clearly hesitant to attack. Edwin yelled as one of the soldiers grabbed the phone from out of his hand and smashed it on the floor. "Hey, that costs more than what you'll make in your life!"

Seb's hands were quickly pulled behind his back before he could web the soldiers to the wall, whilst Ian, Joey and Oliver were restrained using handcuffs. Once all of the children were tied up, General Ross ordered for them to be placed in the back of an army truck, however, they never got that far.

The energy field flickered around them before disappearing entirely, causing General Ross and the rest of the soldiers to glance around in shock. They heard the whirring and clicking of a mechanical object, along with the rumble of an oncoming horde of jeeps. Noticing that the guns were now no longer aimed at the children, the Hulk saw an opportunity. With an almighty roar, the Hulk began to run towards the General, his fists clenched as he prepared to fight.

"Stand down buddy!" called out a voice from the sky, "We'll deal with the General!"

The children cheered as a robotic suit landed directly in front of the Hulk, stopping him in his tracks. "You've been a very bad boy General…" scolded Tony, "…And I can guarantee that I'm not the only one who isn't happy." He pointed at the jeeps, which were just pulling up. "The people in those jeeps are going to make your life a living hell for the next few months…aka the time it'll take for my lawyers to charge and punish you for child endangerment, the breaking of a treaty, unlawful use of army equipment to pursue your own selfish interests…well, I think you get the idea."

Before the General could say anything, the jeep doors opened and men rushed out. The first out, was a middle-aged man, closely followed by a younger agent. "Ian!" called out the first man, "Ian!"

"Daddy!"

Barton shoved the soldiers away from his son as Coulson used a small key in order to unlock the handcuffs. Once free, Ian practically launched himself into his Dad's arms as Clint then moved to free the other children.

The rest of the passengers soon made their way over to the small group and General Ross easily spotted Captain America over Stark's shoulders. He also spotted an unknown young, bespectacled man running over to one of the children. He watched as his soldiers were ordered to stand down, narrowing his eyes as heard the tap, tap, tap of that bloody lawyers cane!

"General Ross!" called out the shorter, blonde lawyer, "I wish I could say that it was a pleasure to see you again, but we lawyers aren't really allowed to lie."

General Ross could only growl at the men, watching as the blonde partner helped his son up and pulled the boy close, acting as his guide as Murdock strode closer and closer to the General. The blind man smiled, "Though rudely done, my partner does have a point. I thought that after we sent the restraining order against you and several high-ranking members of the army, that would be the last that we'd see of you. Clearly I was wrong."

The man handed another envelope to General Ross, "We'll see you in two weeks General" he stated before walking back to his partner and son. Tony took the time to lift up his face mask and smirk at the General before grabbing his son plus a now de-hulked Banner, and flying off. The rest of the small group piled back into the jeeps and zoomed off.

His face flushing red in both anger and humiliation, General Ross ripped open the envelope and poured through the contents of it.

Court Summons…great.

….

It had been two weeks since his failed attempt to capture the Hulk and the General could honestly say that it had been the worst two weeks of his life…and that was including the day his daughter practically disowned him. The army had lawyers after lawyers on their payroll and even they didn't help with all their deals and pleas.

They tried to negotiate with Nelson and Murdock, but those two were on the warpath. Despite their own son being involved in the case which should mean that they were off the case, they argued that it was about so much than that. That the case was really about the rights of that…creature!

General Ross couldn't help but disagree. If those children hadn't been there, then there wouldn't be nearly as much fuss about the whole incident…granted, if they weren't there, then the Hulk would definitely have attacked. Using the children as leverage was both a blessing and a curse in the end.

And now here they were two weeks later, sitting in a private court room and being glared at by SHIELD agents and jurors alike.

"All rise for the Honourable Judge Dourdan." The judge entered the room, and soon ordered for the room to be seated. The charges against General Ross and the United States army were read out, and this included child endangerment and the breaking of a treaty. Then the countersuit against SHIELD was read out. This had been actively encouraged by the army's lawyers in the desperate hope that it might take some of the heat off of the army. This countersuit involved reckless endangerment, specifically regarding the Hulk and his nature.

The indictments and charges were read out and as they were the ones who summoned General Ross to court, Nelson and Murdock were permitted to go first. Nelson made the opening argument.

"Ladies and Gentlemen of the court, Martin Luther King once said that 'freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.' Doctor Bruce Banner…"he pointed at the quiet man, who was seated by Murdock, "…demanded his freedom…and Doctor Banner managed to earn this freedom through the help of SHIELD. General Ross signed a treaty and that should have been that. Doctor Banner now has friends and a little family all of his own. However, on the 15th of September 2015, General Ross…" he pointed at Ross, "…tried to take this freedom away."

Rather over-dramatically, General Ross thought, Nelson span around to face the small crowd that we gathered in the seats. "We are here today, not only to protect the basic human rights of the Doctor here…but also to make that General Ross and other members of the army won't be able to do this again. The outcome that should come out of this courtroom, is that the army's power over us as citizens has decreased to a point where we're not glancing over our shoulders every second, worried that some soldiers are going to snatch us off the streets!"

"Because not only did General Ross abuse his power trying to grab an innocent man off of the streets, he used six children as leverage in order to get what he wanted. Aimed guns at them and threatened to kill them. Now, if that isn't the very definition of child endangerment, then maybe I shouldn't be standing in front of you. The root of all evil is the abuse of power…which is why, after each testimony you hear today, I want you think about your own freedom and find these high-standing members of society and the army guilty of all charges. Thank you."

Nelson sat down, just as the army's lawyer, Mr Imes stood up to make his own statement. "In this line of work, I've heard every negative thing about the United States army that you could possibly imagine…and every time, there has been a sensible and responsible reason for the actions that the army took. This incident is no exception. Doctor Banner here is a very dangerous man under the right…or rather wrong circumstances. And yet SHIELD choose to ignore this very important fact, so is it any surprise that General Ross was forced to take action? I mean the last time Doctor Banner was out in the world, he destroyed…well Harlem. Lives were lost and SHIELD tried to hush it up."

"Our armed forces exist solely to protect our nation and make it safe, and that was the thought process behind my client's actions that day. If SHIELD chooses to put the innocent lives of US citizens at risk, then how can we punish the army for only doing what was right."

Imes sat down as the Judge nodded. "Mr Nelson and Mr Murdock, would you like to call your first witness please."

Nelson nodded, "Yes. We'd like to call General Ross to the stand."


	7. Court Part 2

These gif sets seem to be really popular, so I'll be sure to keep making some of those as I write this series. Please remember that these gif sets can be found on my Tumblr page ( tagged/Avengers-AU)

Please read and review :)

….

Imes sat down as the Judge nodded. "Mr Nelson and Mr Murdock, would you like to call your first witness please."

Nelson nodded, "Yes. We'd like to call General Ross to the stand."

General Ross smirked to himself as he made his way up to the stand, before swearing to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth. As he sat down, Nelson held up a few sheets of paper in front of him. "General Ross, can you please tell the court what these pieces of paper contain?"

The General scanned them before sneering slightly, "These are SHIELD documents."

"And from what you can tell, what are they about?"

"Probably the deal that the army and SHIELD made."

"And what was this deal?"

General Ross sighed, "The army has been struggling with obtaining enough weaponry ever since Mr Stark's decision almost four years ago. SHIELD offered to help us out."

"For free?"

The General growled ignoring the warning look from his lawyer, "No. In return for their help, SHIELD wanted us to…forget about Doctor Banner."

"Forget about Doctor Banner? Can you please clarify for the court?"

"We had been interested in Doctor Banner for a while…his unique abilities could have been useful to us."

Nelson raised an eyebrow, "That's putting it mildly…tell me, is your signature at the bottom of these documents?"

General Ross nodded, "Yes."

"So you agreed to the terms on this documents."

"Yes."

"So, why did you take the actions you made on the 15th of September?"

"I saw a possible threat and I acted."

Nelson turned away and sighed, "What was this threat?"

"The Hulk was in, what would have been a populated area, if it hadn't been for the army's intervention."

"Interesting choice of words General Ross. It was the Hulk you say, not Doctor Banner?"

"They're the same, I see no reason to use two different names."

Nelson grinned at this, "Aah, but you see they are very different. If the Hulk, as you have said, was in a populated area, then your intervention may have been warranted…but witnesses have stated that it was in fact Doctor Banner. Would you care to rephrase your wording?"

"Alright…it was Doctor Banner."

"Then the intervention wasn't really necessary then?"

"Objection Your Honour!" called out Ross's lawyer, "Leading question!"

"Sustained. Mr Nelson, please be a little more careful in what you say."

Nelson nodded in agreement and continued with his questioning. "My apologies. General Ross, can you please describe in detail what happened on that day, when you took action against a perceived threat?"

Frowning at the word 'perceived', General Ross took a deep breath and answered, "We set up a perimeter of around five blocks. We stopped the majority of the traffic from coming in, and once Doctor Banner made his way through the streets, we used one of our vehicles to crash into the car and stop him."

"So despite signing a contract in which you swore not to actively pursue Doctor Banner, you went after him."

"He was a threat! Besides, the contract says I can't actively pursue him. If he poses a threat to civilians, then it is in my right to take action."

Nelson, who had removed the contract a few minutes ago, placed it back on the table. "Can you please read out the highlighted section of this page General Ross?"

Glancing down at the paper, General Ross began to read aloud. "In agreeing to maintain the above distance away from Doctor Bruce Banner, the United States army also agrees not to interfere in situations where the alter ego, known as the Hulk, has not yet appeared or where no immediate danger is present to civilian life."

Nelson nodded along with every sentence and once Ross was finished, he smiled at the jury. "This is the part of the contract that General Ross broke on that day. Doctor Banner was not his alter ego on that day…not until he was provoked into action by the actions the General took, specifically the car crash. And even when he was the Hulk, he was no longer in a populated area-"

"Because we had it cleared!" interrupted Ross angrily

"General Ross…" the Judge began sternly, "…do not interrupt, or I will be forced to escort you from my court room."

Nelson nodded in thanks as the General fell silent, "As I was saying, the Hulk took no action to attack those present. Although, this may be related to the other charge that General Ross and other members of the army are being held accountable for. I have no further questions regarding this particular charge, Your Honour!"

Nelson sat down as the Judge waved Imes forward to question Ross himself. "You have already stated to this court that the signature on the bottom of these documents is in fact yours, however, you also mentioned that you and the army are struggling with providing enough weaponry that is suitable for protecting this country. Am I correct?"

Ross nodded, "Yes. We used to relay a lot on Stark Industries and the weapons they were developing. But ever since the current Mr Stark withdrew all of his weapon contracts in order to pursue another line of work, the army has been struggling."

Imes grinned, "Was there any other option for the army apart from SHIELD?"

"None that would have been able to provide the weapons that we need, especially with the growing threat."

Imes nodded again, "Okay, so really, you didn't have an option in signing the document?"

"No, no I didn't" answered the General, darting in before Murdock could make an objection about the question. The Judge glanced at the army's lawyer, eyes narrowing as she gave Imes a warning stare.

Imes nodded in understanding and apology before continuing, "Ladies and Gentlemen, it could therefore be argued that this contract was made under coercion and is therefore not legally binding. General Ross didn't break that contract and therefore, should not be held accountable for his actions. No further questions Your Honour."

General Ross was gestured back to his seat as Nelson called his next witness, an Agent Phillip Coulson. "Agent Coulson, am I correct in saying that you oversaw the writing and subsequent signing of the contract that we were previously discussing?"

"I was, yes."

"Mr Imes has already commented on the legality of this particular document in regards to whether or not General Ross signed it under coercion. Can you please describe to the court, the events that led up to the writing and signing of this document?"

Agent Coulson nodded, "We were first approached by General Ross in mid-April, in regards to our weapons programme. Over the next few months, General Ross and certain representatives from our organisation, including myself, met in order to write up the contract. However, towards the end of June, we became very concerned about what SHIELD would gain from this deal with the army. This was when General Ross suggested that a clause for him leaving Doctor Banner alonebe added o the contract."

"So, you're saying it was General Ross's idea for that particular part of the contract to be added?"

"Yes it was. SHIELD expanded on certain parts of it, such as the subsection that dealt with when the army should intervene."

"Why did you agree to General Ross's idea in the first place?"

"Every time the army gets involved with trying to capture Doctor Banner, SHIELD has to get involved as well. It costs a lot f money and quite a bit of time, which is why we thought if the army agrees not to pursue Doctor Banner any longer, then SHIELD's workload decreases quite a bit."

Nelson nodded in understanding, "When was the contract signed?"

"The 2nd of August."

"And what would you say about the General's attitude on that day?"

"He was calm."

"Is that it?"

"Yes, he didn't seem very concerned with what we were doing. He just signed the contract and left not long after."

"Ladies and Gentlemen…" Nelson turned to the jury, "…if General Ross was indeed being coerced, just as Mr Imes suggested, then would he be as calm as Agent Coulson described?"

General Ross glanced at the jury, who seemed to be taking in every word that Nelson was saying. Nelson finished his questioning and Mr Imes stood up again. "Agent Coulson…would I be wrong in saying that General Ross had no choice but to turn to SHIELD for help, and sign that contract?"

"General Ross had quite a few choices, including contacting other weapon developers. He didn't have to come to us for help."

"But when he did, putting forward the idea that he and the army leave Doctor Banner alone was the only thing that he knew would get your attention. He then had no choice but to sign the contract."

Agent Coulson shook his head, "He could have turned away at any time. We didn't place the gun in his hand and force him to sign them."

Imes shrugged, "You say that Agent Coulson, but if I was surrounded by a dozen SHIELD agents, I would sign anything you asked me too."

Before Nelson could object, Imes waved his hand in apology, "I'm sorry Your Honour, I retract that previous statement."

It was already too late though, the jury were glancing at each at agreement.

As Imes finished his questioning and Agent Coulson went back to his seat, the Judge glanced at her papers. "Are there anymore witnesses for the stand in regards to the charge of breaking a treaty?"

Nelson nodded, "Yes Your Honour, we'd like to call Doctor Banner to the stand."


End file.
